A Time Before Deception: Truth in Communication, Culture, and Ethics

by Thomas W. Cooper, Tom Cooper

Attempts to show the rules, rituals and ethics of authentic indigenous communication before the arrival of white men in America

244 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1997

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof. Cooper has written an overview of the communications cultures of ‘primitive’ societies. Native cultures had/have various rules they followed in their communications with others. To them lying was for the most part wrong. Those who lied were considered crazy because they did not now what reality was. (I guess it’s similar to the current Bush administration.) Though cultures differ in their specific rules, for the most part the rules are based on respect. One did not talk back to elders, one does not lie, etc. Silence is communication, one does talk unless one has something important to say. In almost all they did/do, native cultures communicate with each other and/or the Great One or nature. It is also interesting how much nature was involved in communication and how native societies communicated, if you will, with nature. With two short case studies of North American native tribes this is an interesting discussion of native societies views on communication.